THE SELLING OF HRC
To further reinforce the pimping of Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton and her book, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee has already made plans for book-purchase and book-signing
events in Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Atlanta, New Jersey,
Cleveland and Los Angeles. All the money raised at these will go
toward Democratic attempts to retake the Senate in 2004.
According to a DSCC staffer, the committee has made tentative
plans to purchase more than 10,000 books for its fundraising
purposes. These Clinton appearances are above and beyond those
already planned for Senators Boxer, Lincoln and Murray, all of whom
have touted their Clinton book signing events. Clinton raised more
than $1 million last year alone for Democratic senators, and the
DSCC expects her to raise upwards of $2 million this year.
“Actually, we think it will be more than that,” says the DSCC
staffer. “When you consider that she’s probably raised close to a
million already [in 2003], with more than 15 events to go she could
easily be our George Bush for the next election cycle.”
She’s not only raising money for Democrats, but also helping
raise bagfuls of money for Republicans. Already Sen. George
Allen, who chairs the Republicans’ Senate campaign
committee, is pulling in record amounts (many are less than $500,
confirming Republican grassroots strength), using Clinton and her
obvious desires for higher office as an obvious rallying point.
MATTRESSES NEXT?
Organized labor is concerned enough about the growing rift within
its ranks that it is holding what amounts to a gangland summit
today.
AFL-CIO president John Sweeney has called for
the emergency meeting based on the actions of American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees leader Gerald
McEntee, who a few weeks back pulled out of the
multi-million dollar PAC created by former AFL-CIO political
director Steve Rosenthal. McEntee strong-armed
fellow union boss Andrew Stern, head of the
Service Employees International Union, to withdraw from Rosenthal’s
group as well. Now the tax-exempt organization known as the
Partnership for America’s Families appears to be floundering after
McEntee signed on to a different tax-exempt 527 organization (the
form of a PAC now allowed under McCain-Feingold) known as
Grassroots Democrats.
Stern, for his part, has not fully committed to withdrawing from
Rosenthal’s operation, perhaps because McEntee has actually done
so. AFL-CIO insiders say both McEntee and Stern have been
cautiously circling each other for months, in the belief that they
are both competing to replace Sweeney as capo di tuti capi
of the AFL-CIO. McEntee seemed to take particular joy in seeing
Rosenthal’s planned $30 million project take on water so quickly,
and beyond his involvement in the grassroots association, McEntee
is now telling associates and presidential candidates that he might
start his own tax-exempt 527 organization.
“This could be absolutely devastating not only to our
presidential hopes but to our chances in the Senate and the House
of gaining some ground,” says a Democratic National Committee
staffer. “If everybody is running their own operation, it will just
create additional tension and confusion as we head into the
fall.”
Rosenthal’s original vision was to create a one-stop shop for
liberal Democratic candidates looking for funding. But in the end,
Rosenthal would have been the kingmaker, denying McEntee the role
he covets more than the AFSCME job he already holds.
